Monthly Archives: March 2016

Ribbon Cutting at the MWRD O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant in Skokie, IL on March 23, 2015

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) officially brought their disinfection project at the O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant online last week. After nearly a decade of legal battles fighting federal regulations, MWRD agreed in 2011 to install UV equipment to neutralize microbes in the water before it’s released into the North Shore Channel.

Last year, levels of fecal coliform bacteria in the wastewater discharged from this plant averaged 8,449 colony forming units (CFUs) and spiked as high as 210,000 CFUs last year. Illinois’ standard for recreational waterways that are ‘fishable and swimmable’ is 200 CFUs. The disinfection process won’t reduce the CFUs to a low enough level to make the river safe for fishing or swimming, but will dramatically reduce the health risks for kayakers, canoers, and others who use the Chicago River recreationally. Fecal coliform bacteria can cause diarrhea, nausea, eye infections and skin rashes if ingested or enter the body through open cuts.

The O’Brien WRP now includes a third treatment stage to its wastewater process:

This plant has the capacity to treat over 450 million gallons per day.

An earlier blog post highlighted a WBEZ ‘Curious City’ story about Chicago’s wastewater treatment process which gives more details about the primary and secondary treatments listed above.

“It’s great this is finally happening,” said Ann Alexander, a senior attorney for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that pushed for years to start treating the Chicago River like other U.S. waterways. “But there is a whole lot of work still to be done to make the river as safe and pleasant as we know it can be someday.”

More photos and a video from the disinfection program’s ribbon cutting ceremony can be found on MWRD’s Facebook page.

If you’re interested in purchasing a property with a Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Incident, or you currently own a property with an open LUST Incident, the steps for satisfying the Illinois EPA (IEPA) to officially close your site may be confusing.

The goal of the LUST program is to obtain a No Further Remediation (NFR) Letter from the IEPA, which signifies that this leaking tank is no longer a threat to health or the environment. If you’re purchasing or refinancing your property, most lenders will require this NFR letter to satisfy their environmental due diligence requirements.

IEPA lays out the five steps to follow to obtain this NFR Letter:

Early Action: Within 45 days of a LUST Incident being declared, the owner must take action to prevent any additional leaking from the UST. This may involve pumping out the tank, removing the UST, or properly abandoning the UST. The owner must also characterize the initial extent of any contamination through soil sampling, either via excavation samples (if removing the UST) or soil borings (if UST will remain in place, either operating or abandoned).

Stage 2 Site Investigation: If contamination is discovered during the initial Stage 1 analysis, IEPA requires additional on-site soil and/or groundwater sampling to determine the extent of the contamination. Soil gas sampling for potential vapor intrusion may also be required. Stage 2 may involve several rounds of sampling, depending on the size of the property and spread of contamination.

Stage 3 Site Investigation: If contamination exists at the site boundary, IEPA also requires off-site sampling to determine if the contamination has migrated onto nearby properties.

Corrective Action: Depending on the extent of contamination discovered during the Site Investigation stages, IEPA may require various Corrective Action strategies, including:

If vapor intrusion exists, installation of Building Control Technology (BCT)

Site use restrictions

Engineered barriers

Groundwater use restrictions

UST removal

Contaminated soil removal

Due to Illinois’ risk-based TACO regulations, most LUST Incidents can obtain an NFR Letter without active remediation.

If you have questions about how Gabriel can help you close your LUST Incident and obtain an NFR Letter, contact Nancy Valenta at 773-486-2123 or nvalenta[at]gabenv.com.